Insight

February
16 2016

4 Smart Ways to Use Your Blog to Grow Your Business (Part 3)

Feb- Blog Post 2
In this series on the how, what, when and why of blogging for business, we have covered the why and the what of blogging, so this post is actually going to go into the how of blogging, specifically How to Use Your Blog to Grow Your Coaching Business.

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Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 4 Smart Ways to Use Your Blog to Grow Your Business (Part 3)  |  in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Uncategorized
February
09 2016

4 Types of Awesome Blog Content That Can Grow Your Business (Part 2)

4 Types of Awesome Blog Content That Can Grow Your Business

In my last post, 5 Awesome Reasons Why Coaches Should Have a Blog, I talked about why you should use blogging as a core marketing strategy.  If you missed the post, be sure to go check it out.

In this blog post, the second post of the series of the what, how, why, and when of using blogging as a marketing strategy to grow your coaching business, we take a look at what blogging is exactly.

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Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 4 Types of Awesome Blog Content That Can Grow Your Business (Part 2)  |  in Blog, Business, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants
January
26 2016

5 Awesome Reasons Why Coaches Should Have a Blog (Part 1)

5 Awesome Reasons Why Coaches Should Have a Blog (Part 1)As a coach or consultant, you probably already know about the importance of being recognized as a knowledgeable expert in your field.  One of the main reasons is that people like to do business with people they feel are knowledgeable and can help them solve their problems.

Did you know blogging can play a major role in building your authority and expert status online?  A blog can be your home base for your knowledge and expertise, the place where people can pull up a chair and learn about what you have to share.

If you’re not using blogging as a core marketing activity then it may be something you might want to consider, or if you are using blogging, but not getting any results from your blogging effort then you might want to read on.

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Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 5 Awesome Reasons Why Coaches Should Have a Blog (Part 1)  |  in Blog, Business, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants
January
19 2016

“Brand” New Year!

New Year. New BrandAt the start of every new year there is a feeling of change in the air, many people decide they want to do better, or be better in the new year, so they make new year’s resolutions or set new goals.

In a way, it’s almost like a new beginning, or a new chapter, for some reason, the change from one year to the next allows us to feel ready to do something different.

You may have taken time out at the end of last year or the beginning of this year to look back and reflect on the prior year, and also look forward and envision what you would like to happen in your business for the new year.

I took the time at the end of last year to reflect on my brand, NadineMullings.com, and to envision how I wanted to grow my business in 2016, and I decided that I wanted to do a brand refresh this year. 

The brand refresh includes four changes.  The first two changes are visual brand changes, while the last two are more vision changes. 

  1. New Logo

    All brands need to refresh their logo ever so often, so with that said, I have updated the look and feel of my logo to reflect more of my current style.NM Logo

  2. New Images

    It’s also important to update your images.  I realized that many of the pics on my website were taken over 3 years ago, so it’s time to update the look and feel of my website by also updating the images.  Hope you like the new pics!New Pic Collage

  3. New Vision

    The goal of “Marketing Essentials by Nadine Mullings” has been to provide independent business owners with Marketing tips, tools and techniques, specifically using four core areas of marketing: blogging, email marketing, social media and text message marketing.The goal has not changed, but my focus is now specifically on women who are coaches or consultants:  health coaches, business coaches, life coaches, executive coaches, business consultants, beauty consultants, etc. who are looking to not only transform their clients, but to make a larger impact, influence, and income.

     

  4. New Name

    As a personal brand, it’s important to reflect yourself in your business, and I feel I haven’t been doing such a good job with making my personal brand “personal”, so I have updated the name from “Marketing Essentials by Nadine Mullings” to simply “Nadine Mullings“.  With this name change comes my willingness to show more sides of me as a woman of faith, business owner, and entrepreneur.

I hope you will enjoy the brand new NadineMullings.com and will join me on the journey to help coaches and consultants make a bigger impact, income, and influence in the world!

In what ways have you made updates to your brand?  Or are you planning to make any brand changes this year?  Be sure to share your comments below:

Also, be sure to sign-up for free updates via email which gives you more insight and inspiration to stay motivated, move your business forward, and make the difference you were born to make.  Receive updates right in your inbox!

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on “Brand” New Year!  |  in Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants
December
22 2015

The 3 C’s of Successful Text Message Marketing

The 3 C’s of Successful Text Message Marketing
Text Marketing can be a powerful marketing tool when done correctly.  The problem is so few companies are attempting text marketing, and some of the ones who are using text message marketing, are not using it effectively.

In this post, I will cover the 3 C’s of Successful Text Message Marketing, you can check out the video below or read the post:

[Tweet “The 3 C’s of Successful Text Message Marketing. #TextMarketing #SMS #MMS #MarketingEssentials”]

  1.  Convenience
    One of the main reasons why Text Marketing can be so effective is the convenience of this marketing channel, so many people have smart phones now a days, and most people have their phones close by at all times, so this makes text message marketing a convenient and easy way to reach someone.  Some people actually prefer text messages even more so than a phone call, and it’s definitely faster than an email, so this makes text marketing convenient for the marketer and convenient for the person who has opted-in to receive text messages from your company.
  2. Communication
    Communicating via text message can be an easy way to quickly reach your audience.  Giving your clients or prospects the option to be reached via text message is a great opportunity to connect in a way that is most effective for you and for your clients or prospects. 
  3.  Content
    Even though it is convenient to communicate via text message to your clients and prospects, it is important that you are providing relevant and timely content in your text. Some examples of content that works well via text message include coupons, appointment reminders, notifications, etc.  As long as you content is valuable, your audience will want to receive text messages from you. 
  4. Bonus C-  Cost
    Text message marketing can be one of the most affordable and cost effective ways to reach your customers, so if you’re not using text message marketing, you might want to think about adding it to your marketing mix.

Are you using text marketing in your marketing mix?  If so, what do you think makes your text message marketing successful?  Be sure to comment below.

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on The 3 C’s of Successful Text Message Marketing  |  in Business, Business Development, Marketing, Text Marketing, Uncategorized
December
16 2015

Top 3 Super Simple and Easy Text Marketing Services

Top 3 Super Simple and Easy Text Marketing Services
Are you considering using text message marketing in your marketing mix?  If so, check out the top three text marketing tools that I recently researched.

[Tweet “top three text marketing tools that are super simple and easy! #Marketing Essentials #TextMarketing”]

All three options do not require contracts or set-up fees, the systems are super easy to use and they offer the following standard features:

  • Group Texting–  Allows you to send a text to a large list of individuals at one time
  • Keyword and Shortcode–  Each company offers you a Keyword-  a word people can use to text your company ( i.e. “Text”), and a shortcode-  a 5-6 digit number that your customers or prospects can text your keyword to (i.e. 515155)
  • Scheduling Ability–  Ability to schedule a specific day and time for your text message to be sent
  • Auto Replies–  Automatic messages that can be setup to respond to incoming text requests
  • Multimedia Message Service (MMS)–  The ability to send pics, video, or audio via text
  • Inbox/One-on-One Conversations–  An inbox that also allows you to respond to individual text received by clients or customers
  • Drip Campaigns/Autoresponders–  the ability to schedule a series of text messages in advance and automatically send to your customers and clients over a period of time.
  • Upload a Permission-based list-  the ability to upload into the system a list of mobile phone numbers of individuals who have opted in to receive text messages.
  • Text-to-Join/Text-to-Win–  the ability for people to join your mobile list by texting your keyword to a shortcode.
  • Reports- The ability to track and see the analytics of your text messages
  • Social Media Integration–  Ability to send text messages and post messages to Facebook.
  • Website Sign-up Widget–  Allowing your prospects to sign-up for your mobile list via your website
  • Link shortening–  allows you the ability to shorten any of your links within your text message.

Now here is how they differ:

SlickText

SlickText offers the following additional features:

  • Email address collection–  If you want to also build your email list and collect email addresses, SlickText offers an email capture feature. 
  • Double opt-in–  If you want a double opt-in requiring individuals to confirm that they are opting in to your mobile list, SlickText offers a double opt-in feature.
  • Unique Coupon Codes–  If you offer coupons, and you want the ability to track each coupon individually, SlickText offers unique coupon codes.
  • Dynamic Expiration Date on Coupons–  If you would like to automatically add an expiration date to your text coupon, SlickText allows you to dynamically add expiration dates to your coupons.
  • Send your texts directly from your phone, no need to send from your desktop
  • Create flyers to promote your text message campaign
  • Create QR Codes to help promote joining your mobile list
  • Link Tracking–  the ability to track the links people click on in your text message
  • Free Rollover Text for paid accounts
  • List Segmentation-  segment contacts into unlimited Groups. Then, choose to send your messages to one group or multiple groups. 
  • Email Marketing Integration with MailChimp and Constant Contact

SlickText Price-  A forever FREE option is available, then prices start as low as $29/month

SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting offers the following additional features:

  • Schedule automatic appointment reminders
  • Text-to-vote–  Poll your audience with the text to vote ability
  • Schedule messages on Twitter
  • Link Tracking–  the ability to track the links people click on in your text message

SimpleTexting PRICE–  FREE 14-Day Trial, then prices start as low as $45/month

EzTexting

EzTexting offers the following additional features:

  • List Segmentation-  segment contacts into unlimited Groups. Then, choose to send your messages to one group or multiple groups.
  • Recurring Messages-  allow you to compose a text message that will be sent out on a regular basis – daily, weekly or monthly, with all sorts of scheduling options. 
  • Personalization-  First and last name fields can be automatically merged into your mass text messages for a personal touch.
  • Message Templates-  Allows you to save your favorite text messages for future use.
  • Voice Broadcast-  you can send out thousands of calls within minutes. 
  • Text-to-vote–  Poll your audience with the text to vote ability
  • Schedule messages on Twitter
  • Email Marketing Integration with MailChimp, Constant Contact, and AWeber
  • Send your texts directly from your phone, no need to send from your desktop
  • Create QR Codes to help promote joining your mobile list

PRICE-  FREE Option available, then prices start as low as $49/month

Are you using a Text Marketing Service?  If so, which Text Marketing Service do you prefer and why?  Be sure to post your comment below:

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on Top 3 Super Simple and Easy Text Marketing Services  |  in Business, Marketing, Text Marketing
December
08 2015

The Secret to Successful Text Message Marketing

The Secret to Successful Text Message Marketing
As a business owner, coach, or consultant, you may not be taking advantage of one of the best marketing platforms out there, Text Message Marketing.  Many people avoid text message marketing because they are unsure how to use it, how to not be intrusive, and how to get results.  However, it’s not as complicated as people make it out to be.

The secret to successful text message marketing is really four-fold:

[Tweet “The secret to successful text message marketing is… #MarketingEssentials #TextMessageMarketing”]

  1. Build an engaged audience of people who are interested in hearing from you via text message.  This is the first step and the most important step.  You have to build a permission-based list of individuals who have agreed to receive text messages from you.  Without a permission-based list you will not be able to succeed with Text Message Marketing.  Similar to email marketing, your list is going to be the core of your success.  For tips on how to build your Text Message Marketing list, be sure to check out the post How to Build a Powerful Text Message Marketing List
  2. Once you build an awesome permission-based Text Message Marketing list, the next step is to provide valuable content.  Discounts and promotions work really well with text message marketing. Offering some type of coupon or discount code for your product or service via text message has a high response rate because the majority of people will see your message, and those are interested in your promotion will usually take action.  However, text message marketing is not limited to just coupons and promotions, they are also good for announcements, notifications, and reminders.  For more ideas on how you can use text message marketing in your business, be sure to check out the post How to Use Text Message Marketing in Your Business
  3. Be sure to consistently reach out to your audience via text message.  You have to be very careful to make sure that you respect your access to someone’s text messages, and you don’t want to be an annoyance, so it is important to gauge how often you will be sending out text messages to your list.  It even helps to establish frequency up front so people will be more comfortable opting in to receive information from you via text.  Saying something like “We respect you and will only send you text messages two times a month”.  Establishing it upfront and sticking with what you promised will help establish trust.
  4. Lastly, it is important to always offer a way to opt out of receiving text messages from you.  This is a requirement, and if you are using a text message marketing provider this option can automatically be added to your text messages.  You want people to be able to easily opt out if they are no longer interested.

If you follow all four steps, then you will have the secret to successfully using text message marketing in your business.  Are you using text message marketing in your business?  If so, what have you found makes your text message marketing successful?  Be sure to leave a comment below.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on The Secret to Successful Text Message Marketing  |  in Business, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Text Marketing
November
17 2015

How to be Consistent with Your Social Media Marketing

November Blog Image 3

Social media is a great way to amplify your message and reach your target audience, but a lot of independent business owners, coaches, and consultants struggle to stay consistent with their social media marketing effort, so how can you stay consistent on social media?

This blog post outlines several ways to stay consistent with your social media marketing effort:

[Tweet “5 ways to stay consistent with your social media marketing effort. #MarketingEssentials #SocialMedia”]

  1. Be Committed

    The 1st step to being consistent with anything, is to be committed.  You have to be committed to using social media marketing as a marketing activity for your business.  If you’re not committed, you will never be consistent!
    [Tweet ” If you’re not committed, you will never be consistent!”]

  2. Create a Plan

    A great way to stay consistent with your social media marketing is to have a social media marketing plan.  Your social media plan helps you to decide what you will be posting on social media, when you will be posting, etc.  Without a plan to follow, it will be easy to stop and not be consistent.  Not sure what to include in your social media marketing plan?  Check out this post that outlines what to include in your social media plan, The Secret to Successful Social Media Marketing

  3. Limit Your Social Media Platforms

    With so many different types of social media platforms out there, it can easily become overwhelming to keep up with staying consistent on tons of different platforms, so limiting your social media networks will enable you to stay consistent.  Not sure what social network is right for you?  Check out this post What’s The Best Social Media Platform For Your Business?

  4. Schedule Your Activity

    Although it is important to show up on social media “live”, scheduling some of your social media activity can help you to stay consistent with your social media marketing activity.  There are tons of tools you can use to schedule your social media.  To learn how to pick the right social media management tool for you, check out How to Pick a Social Media Management Tool

  5. Check Your Analytics

    When you make it a habit to check the results of your social media marketing, this will help you to make adjustment to your social media and will help you to stay consistent with your effort, so no matter what social media platform you may be using, if they offer some insights on your results, be sure to check your analytics.

These are just 5 ways to stay consistent with your social media marketing effort.  What other ways have you used to stay consistent on social media?  Be sure to comment below.

Also, don’t forget to download the Marketing Essentials Checklist 21 Things You Must do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing .

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Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on How to be Consistent with Your Social Media Marketing  |  in Social Media
November
10 2015

6 Surefire Ways to Succeed on Social Media Without a Large Following

6 Surefire Ways to Succeed on Social Media Without a Large FollowingWhen it comes to social media, many independent business owners, coaches, and consultants jump in head first without putting together a solid social media marketing plan.

A social media marketing plan can help you stay organized on social media and get you results.  However, some people confuse success on social media with a large following, but  it’s not a large following that determines your success on social media, it’s how engaged your followers are to your brand, your message, your products and services. 

This blog post discusses 6 Surefire Ways to Succeed on Social Media Without a Large Following.

[Tweet “6 Surefire Ways to Succeed on Social Media without a large following. #MarketingEssentials #SocialMedia”]

  1. Know Your Target Audience– when you are very specific about your target market, you will be able to know the best social networks to be on to reach your target market, and you will be able to know exactly what to say to your target market to keep them engaged.   Who is your target audience?
  2. Create Engaging Content–  when it comes to the content that you share on social networks, be sure to keep your content 80% entertaining/educating and only 20% promotional. After all it is “social” networks not “business” networks, so you want to make sure that the majority of the content that you post is “social” in nature.  However, you are on social networks to gain exposure for your business too, so be sure to post some promotional or “business” focused content.  It’s important that you know what type of content you want to share with your target audience, will your content be humorous, educational, inspirational, motivational, etc.? It is good to have a good mix of various forms of content.  Including content that naturally creates more engagement like pictures, videos, questions, fill in the blank statements, polls/opinions, and inspirational quotes. If you have good content that is appropriate and interesting for your target audience, this will naturally encourage engagement.
  3. Create a content calendar and automate some of your posts–  Be sure to create a content calendar. In your content calendar you can plan what topic you want to concentrate your conversations around each month, and make it relevant to your target audience and your business. Your content calendar could be for the next 90 days, 6 months, or 12 months.  Once you decide on the content you will be posting, there are some great tools available to help you to automate the publishing of your content on your social networks. Some popular tools are HootSuite, Sprout Social, Social Oomph, Post Planner, Meet Edgar etc. Planning out your content and then automating the publishing of it saves you a lot of time!
  4. Grow your social networks organically (offline)–  Organic growth is the most affordable because you don’t have to pay money for it, and if you consistently post good content you will be able to grow your network organically easily. Here are a few ways you can grow your social networks offline:
    1. Encourage people to connect with you online by placing your social network information on your business card.
    2. If you do public speaking engagements for your business, be sure to promote connecting with you on your social networks by placing your social network information at the beginning and/or at the end of your presentation
    3.  If you have a retail space or an office that is open to the public, place signs around your establishment encouraging your customers to connect with you on social networks.
  5. Grow your social networks organically (online)
    1. Promote connecting with you on social networks by adding links to your social networks on your e-mail signature line.
    2. Email your current customers inviting them to join you on a social network. It helps to offer some type of incentive for joining like a discount, coupon, e-Book, report, checklist, etc.
    3. Encourage your current fans and followers on your social networks to promote your page to their network.
    4. Post good content and encourage your network to share your information with their network, by liking, sharing, retweeting, repining, etc.
  6. Grow your social networks using paid advertising–  Each social network is different in the types of paid advertising that they offer, but it helps to look into the following options of advertising for the particular social network you may be on.
    1. An Ad– consider paying to place an ad that is targeted to reach your particular target market as a way to grow your network. The ad must have a good image, good copy, and be relevant to your target audience in order to be successful.
    2. Promoted Content– this is a great way to use existing content that has gotten a good response from your followers and fans, and pay to promote that content to a larger audience. This can include a promoted post on Facebook, a promoted tweet on Twitter, a promoted pin on Pinterest etc.
    3. Affiliate marketing– connect with someone with a large audience that fits your target market, and ask him to promote your business, you can offer some type of incentive for promoting you or you can offer to promote that person to your network.  Even though your network is smaller, it could still be potential exposure to new people for the person with the larger audience.
    4. A contest or sweepstakes where someone will win something for connecting with you on social media. Depending on the prize, the cost of this method could be minimal or expensive, but it’s a great way to increase you fans and followers.  Just make sure that the prize is something that is of interest to your specific target audience.

These are just 6 ways to succeed on social media without a large audience.  What other ways have you used to succeed on social media?  Be sure to comment below.

Also, don’t forget to download the Marketing Essentials Checklist 21 Things You Must do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing .

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Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 6 Surefire Ways to Succeed on Social Media Without a Large Following  |  in Social Media
November
03 2015

5 Types of Content that Creates Engagement on Social Media

social media marketing

Social Media has become a part of every day life for most people.  From checking Facebook to see what your friends, family, and associates are up to, to checking LinkedIn to stay connected with your professional network, to checking Twitter to join the conversation about the latest show, event, or major topic, or browsing Pinterest for the latest recipes or fashion trends,  social media and checking in to a social network has become a way of life.

Many smart business owners, coaches and consultants have also seen the importance of including social media in their marketing mix, so they can reach their target audience where they are already hanging out on these social networks. 

However, getting results from your social media marketing can be difficult.  Especially if your audience doesn’t seem to be engaging with your content, so in this post, I will go over five types of content you can post on social media that gets the most engagement. 

[Tweet “Five types of content you can post on social media that gets the most engagement. #MarketingEssentials #SocialMediaMarketing”]

  1. Inspirational Quotes
    There’s so much negativity in the traditional media channels that people are craving positivity and inspiration, so being the light of inspiration in someones day by posting an inspirational quote can really increase engagement.  Inspirational quotes are appreciated on almost every social network.  When you post an inspirational quote picture on Facebook  you can get engagement, when you post an inspirational quote on Twitter you can get engagement, when you post on inspiration quote graphic on Pinterest you can get engagement, etc., so no matter what type of business you have, or what social network you are on, posting inspirational quotes can help to increase your engagement.
  2. Ask Questions
    People like to be helpful and to express their opinions, so asking questions can be a really good way to increase engagement.  This can work for the social networks that are more conversational like Twitter and Facebook.  It’s not necessarily as effective on image or video sites like Pinterest, Instagram, or YouTube.  However, posting insightful questions can help to increase engagement, in fact social media is a great way to conduct market research.  If you are wondering how your target audience will feel about a particular topic, product, program, etc., ask them on social media and see what they say.
  3. Show Behind the Scenes
    Social media is supposed to be “social”, so having posts that show behind the scenes at the office or behind the scene of an event can really increase engagement.  This works really well when you are posting behind the scene pictures or videos on  social networks like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.  Think about what would be interesting to your audience.  Would they like to see pics of behind the scenes of a company event?  Would they like to see pics of what happens in the office on a busy day?  Think about interesting behind the scenes pictures or videos that you can post to your social networks.
  4. Post Pictures
    Whether your posting inspirational quote pictures, or behind the scenes pictures, pictures always increase engagement on most social media platforms.  #TBT on Facebook is a great way to use pictures.  Post pictures from around the office or staff that was from back in the days, because social media is “social”, you need to include some social elements in your social media marketing including the use of various types of pictures.  What types of pictures can you use for your social media marketing?
  5. Post Videos
    The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words, well a video is worth a thousand pictures, so including posting videos on your social networks is important.  There are many types of videos you can post on social media (i.e. spontaneous videos shot on your smart phone,  professional videos produced by a professional video company, etc.).  Whatever type of video you choose to post on your social networks, be sure that it is the type of video that reflects your brand.  If you choose to post a spontaneous video shot on your iPhone, be sure that the camera angle is right, the lighting is right, that it still looks somewhat professional, because the video is a reflection of your brand.  You can also use a professional to shoot the video for you.  I prefer the professional videos, I feel it’s a better look for your brand.  I have used Captured in Time Productions to produce some of my latest videos.

These are just five types of content you can post to get more engagement on social media.    What other types of content have you posted that creates engagement on social media? Be sure to comment below.

Also, don’t forget to download the Marketing Essentials Checklist 21 Things You Must do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Social Media Marketing .

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 5 Types of Content that Creates Engagement on Social Media  |  in Business, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Social Media, Uncategorized